| 释义 |
grindstone|ˈgraɪndstəʊn|
Forms: 3–8 grinstone, 4–6 gryn(e)stone, (4 gryn(d)stoon), 5–7 gryndston(e, (5 grynd(i)stan, 6 grindestone, 8 grinestone, Sc. grunstane, 9 dial. grinstwun), 3– grindstone.
[f. grind v. + stone.]
†1. A millstone. Obs. (exc. in nonce-use).
a1225[see grindle stone 1]. 1382Wyclif Deut. xxiv. 6 Thow shalt not taak in stedde of a wed the nethermore and ouermore grynstoon. 1725Dict. Heraldry 238 Upton tells us, this Cross is call'd Molendinaris, because it bears the upper Grindstone. 1820Scott Monast. xv, It could not but strike the man of meal and grindstones, that [etc.].
2. A disc of stone of considerable thickness, revolving on an axle, and used for grinding, sharpening, or polishing.
1404Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 398, j gryndstan cum j axiltre de ferro. c1475Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 768/25 Hec acates, a grynstone. 1573Tusser Husb. xvii. (1878) 36 A grinstone, a whetstone, a hatchet and bil, with hamer and english naile, sorted with skil. 1594Blundevil Exerc. iii. i. vi. (1636) 284 Suppose that you turne with your hand from East to West a Grind-stone, or some other turning wheele. 1624Capt. Smith Virginia iii. ii. 49 To send him two great gunnes, and a gryndstone. 1719De Foe Crusoe i. iv. (1840) 63 That most useful Thing called a Grindstone. 1759Goldsm. Bee No. 2 ⁋12 Four yards of good lutestring wearing against the ground, like..knives on a grindstone. 1833Marryat P. Simple (1863) 249 Sharpening their cutlasses at the grindstone. 1878Masque Poets 95 And ground upon a huge grindstone His penknife, sharp and bright.
transf. and fig.1654Hammond Fundamentals xvi. 174 Literature..is the grindstone to sharpen the coulters, and to whet their natural faculties. 1771Smollett Humph. Cl. 24 Apr., Our aunt Tabitha acts upon him as a perpetual grindstone. 1860Dickens Let. 4 Oct., Now the preparations to get ahead..will tie me to the grindstone pretty tightly.
b. Phr. to hold (keep, bring, put) one's nose to the grindstone: to get the mastery over another and treat him with harshness or severity, to grind down or oppress; also, in mod. use, to keep (oneself or another) continually engaged in hard and monotonous labour.
1532Frith Mirr. to know Thyself (1829) 273 This Text holdeth their noses so hard to the grindstone, that it clean disfigureth their faces. 1546J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 10, I shall to reueng former hurtis, Hold their noses to grinstone. 1647Ward Simp. Cobler 46 Salus Populi suffer'd its nose to be held to the Grindstone, till it was almost ground to the grisles, and yet grew never the sharper. 1697Vanbrugh Relapse v. iii, Let him be fetched in by the ears: I'll soon bring his nose to the grindstone. 1742Richardson Pamela III. 309 If they can make the Man stoop to the great Point, they'll hold his Nose to the Grindstone, never fear. 1786Burns Ded. to G. Hamilton 58 Be to the poor like onie whunstane, And haud their noses to the grunstane. 1828Lights & Shades II. 13 People whose heads are a little up in the world, have no occasion to keep their nose to the grindstone. 1886Miss Tytler Buried Diamonds xxviii, His nose is not to be kept at the grindstone the whole year round.
3. A kind of stone suitable for making grindstones. Also grindstone grit.
1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 61 Take a piece of Grin-stone or Whet-stone and rub hard upon your Work to take the black Scurf off it. 1858H. G. Nicholls Forest Dean ii. 27 In A.D. 1637 a grant was made to Edward Terringham of ‘all the mines of coal and quarries of grindstone within the Forest of Dean’. 1863Dana Man. Geol. 73 Grit, Grit-Rock, a hard, gritty rock, consisting of sand and small pebbles, called also millstone grit, and grindstone grit, because used sometimes for grindstones. |